What they are and what they'll be
by tammyshih123
Summary: This happened post "The Grave Danger Job". Just thought that kiss wasn't enough to sum up the whole emotional ride for Parker and Hardison so I wrote something on my own!Written in Hardison's and Parker's view, so there'll be two chapters.
1. The night after the nightmare

At midnight, the apartment seemed quieter than ever. The dark-skinned man exited the shower with the only towel wrapped under his waist, totally exposing his muscular body.

He wandered to the kitchen and opened the fridge, grabbing an orange soda out of it, then without thinking, picked up the cereal box in the one of the cabinets. He didn't like cereals. But she did. And he only bought it for his own sake, hoping that there might be a day when she would finally let her guard down and visit him here. He put the cereal on the counter and then made his way to the living room with his soda, where he sat down in front of his '54 inch TV flat screen and turned it on.

He wanted some life in his flat. And after the day he've had, being buried alive and all that, he thought he deserved something light-heartening.

"Play some jazz." He talked to the screen, and immediately, the stereo around the apartment started playing a relaxing version of Lance Armstrong's "Moon River" .

He then went to his bedroom and put some clothes on, and began grooving to the music. It wasn't until he slide near the window did he found a blonde hair woman standing on his balcony.

"Damn, girl! You almost gave me an heart attack!"

"Didn't mean to." She smiled half-heartedly, and then she climbed into the apartment.

He stared at her smile, a bit dazed by her beauty but also aware that that smile meant she wanted something or was up to something.

"What are you doing here?" His sight followed her as she set foot into his apartment and took in the environment. It was different from her place. Very different. It felt more like home, with the kitchen, couches and all the things that would appear in a normal house. She like this place. Not as much as her own or Nate's. But this is quite good too.

"Bored." She answered briefly. He rolled his eyes. This IS Parker. She usually didn't say more than she needed to.

"And?" He pressured on, though he knew she wouldn't talk unless she wanted to. But it was worth a try. And as usual, she ignored him.

"Hey!My favorite!" Parker literally glided into the kitchen when she caught a glimpse of the cereal box, and her eyes lit up like a child being given early Christmas presents.

He blushed, just a little, and replied,

"Um...yeah, I was going to bring it to you tomorrow cause I saw it on sale on my way back home and..." He wanted to punch himself. He was the world's greatest hacker and he still can't get a cover story straight when Parker's around.

But Parker seemed to ignored it again and sat down with a bowl of cereal and started crunching the cereals.

"So you want to tell me why you're doing here?" He sat next to her at the stool, trying not to meet her gaze. It was awkward enough to talk after what they'd been through today, and now she's at his place, eating cereal? He just hoped that what she said earlier this day was true and she was just too afraid to show what she really felt for him.

"I was bored." She repeated.

"Girl, after the day we had, you should be exhausted." He looked at her with an unbelievable expression.

"You should be too." She looked into his eyes and accused. As if it was his fault still awake at one in the morning. But he just couldn't sleep. After being rescued out of the coffin, his senses seemed to intensify. It was a near-death experience and in that coffin, he 'd thought of all the possibilities if he didn't make it through. Will the team still go on if he was gone?Will Parker be devastated?

Hearing her voice was probably the only thing that kept him from going unconscious. The team all knew he had claustrophobia. And gladly, it was her who was with him all the way. He clung to the voice every second he was in that damn coffin, and thankfully he made it. And when he came out, he hugged everyone instead of her because he knew she wasn't used to this kind of intimacy. It took him this close to death to make her finally confess that she cared, and he was afraid that it was all a dream. But the look on her face...all he could see was worry. Almost the same look when the physic was running a cold read on Parker on the Future Job. He could see that she was worry, exhausted, and relieved at the same time.

And the kiss, was that too much? He hoped it didn't scare her away. And apparently it didn't. Or else, why would she be here?

"I kind of want to celebrate 'not dying at the age of 24'." He gestured towards his chest and talked in a slightly exaggerating tone, which normally makes Parker roll her eyes, but this time, she chuckled lightly at his expression.

"Congratulations, then." She knocked the bowl slightly against his bottle of soda, as if they were beer bottles.

He was kind of startled at her behavior. Cause normally she make that kind of comment. Mostly she'll just say something just to get back to him, or tease him about his fear of jumping off a building. But this was one of those moments when she was genuine about the things she said. Well, she was always genuine, but in a sarcastic way. But this was real and true. And for a second there, he didn't know how to respond as his mind wandered off into her beautiful eyes and the moment of him kissing her on the cheek appeared in front of his eyes again.

"Hardison?" He snapped back out of the memory when he heard the thief called his name. She sounded worry.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, girl. Never been better." Hardison smiled to reassure her that he was okay. And then a thought suddenly hit him. "You're here to check up on me?"

Parker seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable when he said that so it must be true.

"Well, just to make sure you're asleep...Who'd thought you would still want to have a relaxing night with your soda..." She grumbled.

"Wait, wait...how long have you been here,exactly?" Hardison held up a hand to stop her from mumbling whatever she was about to say.

"Hmm? Well, I was here way before you came home." Parker answered nonchalantly.

Hardison eyes widened. So she had seen him took all of his clothes off before he went into the shower?And not wearing clothes after that?His face flushed red immediately, not that she would notice though.

"So...emm..." Hardison cleared his throat, trying to come up with something to say.

"Don't worry, I didn't see a thing when you started to take off your clothes. But I must admit, you're pretty well-built." As if reading his mind,Parker replied in the most innocent way, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Hardison gulped, and moved his gaze away from the pretty little thief.

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine." He shifted the conversation back to where they were, and tried to pretend that what she said DID NOT just happened.

She turned and looked him in the eyes and smiled that smile again. The smile that has always charmed Hardison and make his weak on his knees. Hardison didn't know if she did that on purpose, but he could feel that his heart was beating so fast and the blood pumping through his heart was much more faster than it usually did, and it made him dizzy just to think of her presence next to him, her shoulder brushing against his.

"Glad to hear that."

"So...ugh...you want to go home now?Maybe take some time to rest?" Hardison asked slowly, though deep down in his heart he didn't want Parker to leave just yet, he also knew that if he pushed too hard, Parker would likely just back out again.

To his surprise, the thief shook her head.

"I couldn't sleep. I don't know why. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline rush earlier this day. So I was thinking about stealing something. And then I got out of my home, and headed for the nearest museum. But somehow, I ended up here." Parker shrugged and ate another mouthful of her cereal.

"I'm glad you ended up here." Hardison couldn't help but smile and lay a hand upon hers. And when she didn't pull her hand out, he squeezed just a little to show her how grateful he was. For what she did tonight, and for what she did today, too.

"So what were you planning to do before you notice I was there?" Parker stood up and walked to the living room, and Hardison followed her.

"Star Trek marathon." He answered honestly. It was probably one of the things that could make him rolled her eyes upon hearing the answer.

"Of course you were."

"Hey,woman. Don't you dare insult the soothing ability that Star Trek has on a geek." Hardison pointed his finger at her jokingly.

She raised both her hands as if surrendering.

"Well, since I wasn't able to sleep anyway, you think I can stay here for the night?" Parker slumped into one of the couches where Hardison usually sat. And Hardison smiled when seeing that, knowing that it meant Parker wanted to sit near to him. And he wouldn't want it any other way.

"Um...yeah sure, girl. Whatever you want." He grabbed his orange soda and was ready to sit into the seat next to Parker when she spoke again.

"Oh, and Hardison?" She turned around and looked at Hardison, and smiled.

"Yeah,mamma?"

"I want pretzels."

Hardison smiled back.

"You got it, girl."


	2. To where her heart desires

_**A/N: okay, so here's Parker 's side of the story, of what she's i wrote too much so I have to split it into two chapters haha:P Sorry about that, but do enjoy!And please comment!It would mean the world to me, thanks! :)**_

She couldn't sleep. So what? She would often toss and turn at night , and then decided to give up her sleep and steal something from the nearest museum or end up in Nate apartment's air was the most peaceful place she could ever find, knowing that her father figure was resting below her, hearing him breath in, breath out in normal pace. But now that Sophie started spending more and more nights over at Nate's, she couldn't actually go there that often. And tonight was like no others. She was either too pumped up by the job today or was too,both shocked and relieved that they had Hardison back, safe and sound.

She tried to breath normally as she recalled the day's event. It was, to be honest, her most nerve-wrecking day in her life. And she did jumping off a building for a living,for crying out loud! She always knew that their job had their risks. But no one was ever this close to dying. And it was Hardison,the one who was had the least experience at these things. She had shown so much emotion today, and that exhausted her. She hadn't been keen to share her feelings since her brother died, and she hadn't feel so vulnerable since that either. She was used to shut all her emotions away, because it was so much easier to live when she didn't care. But something in her changed when she joined the team, especially the day when Hardison said he would look for her wherever she go after their supposedly-last mission.

It now seemed more and more easy to feel, now that she had a family, or at least some kind of a family. Nate was like a father who was strict when it was needed be and gentle when the team needed support. He was always there to protect them from harms away and always the first one who rushed to their backup if Elliot hadn't been there in time. Sophie was like a mother. Parker never remembered what having a mother felt like. But she supposed this must be it. She could always go to her for advice, and she would always be there for her. She'd helped her through the awkward moments of her social faux pas. Elliot was like her big brother, always taking care of her and the rest of the team. She knew that he cared for the crew much more than he cared to admit. And then there was Hardison.

She never knew what her feelings were for him until today. Sure, she liked to hang out with him. And she didn't like him hanging out with other girls. But her?Loving Hardison?Not likely. She was a thief. She couldn't possibly fall in love. But even though she didn't want to admit it, she knew that every time when they were pretending to kiss on a con, her heart was beating faster than ever. Ever faster than when she was grifting.

She sat up and shook her head, wanting to get all the confusing feelings aside. She wasn't very good at thinking, or feelings. Her mind could think of hundred ways to break into a safe but could not figure out how she really felt about Hardison? This was way beyond ridiculous. She wanted to go to Sophie but remembered that she was staying over at Nate's. So she changed into her usual clothes,grabbed her tools on the table and then headed out. Stealing usually cooled her down. So she should go steal something. And with a relief sigh, she realized that that idea was the most sane thought she'd had tonight.

* * *

Ok...this wasn't where she was initially heading. That wasn't the Boston Museum of Fine Arts across the street. Where was she?

She must've been lost. But she couldn't be. She started to take in the environment around her and realized, with shock, that she was across the street of Hardison's apartment. How did she ended up here?She was too caught up in her own thought that she didn't even realize that she turned the wrong way twenty minutes was trying to get away, to avoid what happened today and now she was in front of his place?She had never been in his flat before, but she had found herself, on several occasions, especially when she felt lonely and it was too late to go to Sophie or Elliot, that she would end up here, in the park across Hardison's apartment and looking up as the apartment's light turned on. And she would sat there for a very long time, imagining what Hardison would say to comfort her if she had gone up there. But she never did. And then the lights were eventually turned off and she knew Hardison was asleep.

But not tonight. She was too tired to deal with this feeling stuff or whatever other people call this. And it wasn't even right to end up here if she wanted to talk about relationships. She always went to Sophie for relationship advice.

But something inside her made her walked up to the building. She subconsciously touched her right cheek, where Hardison kissed gently earlier tonight. She closed her eyes again as she recalled today's event. It was like what happened to her brother all those years ago had happened all over again. That desperated feeling she felt when she heard that Hardison was in a coffin underground, being buried alive. The fear of not being able to see him again when they were trying to figure out where he was buried. The emotional outburst when she was talking with him on the phone and they were only this close on getting him out. She told him. She had finally admitted that she cared. She cared deeply for the hacker and cared more for him than for anyone on the team. She knew,from that moment, that she love him, but it wasn't until that moment that she had finally confronted herself with this fact. And after that, it was like she wasn't able to turn that thought off. So maybe that was why she was here.

She suddenly opened her eyes. She had to see him. To make sure he was okay. Without even knowing it, she came to the only place where she knew she could see him right away.

So she took the windows instead of the elevator. Because for Parker, the windows' were always the fastest way. And she couldn't wait to see him.

**_to be continued..._**


	3. Pretzels

_**A/N: Sorry for any misspelling or grammar mistake.I'm not a native english speaker so my use of words might be weird sometimes :P but thank you for the comments!And I'm glad that you enjoyed it! This is the last chapter of this story,enjoy!And feel free to leave comments or suggestions :)Thanks! **_

* * *

It wasn't long before she found herself in Hardison's balcony. She peeked inside and saw that he had just walked into the place and started to take off clothes and headed towards the shower.

She quickly turned away, with slight redness filling up upon her cheeks. She was never embarrassed by a man's naked body. But if it's Hardison, then it's with him was the same. Everything she did with him was a new experience for her. She didn't know she could feel jealousy. Actually, she didn't know she could , it wasn't until they'd kissed for the first time during a a con for a cover did she know that her heart could beat that fast!

So she turned away and looked over at the beautiful night view of Boston. Now that she had seen him, she should go. Or else, what would she say if he sees her here? But she was awe-struck by the view in front of her. Parker was never awe-struck. Not if it includes a whole warehouse of non-sequential hundred dollar bills. Guess that was the good side of living near the river in a 12-story building. She sat down on a chair he had set there, and started to appreciate the satisfying scene. She even closed her eyes to feel the night wind breeze through her blond hair. She could never rested her mind in a place instead of her own or Nate's. But she could sense her muscles relaxing and her eye lids grew heavy.

A soft crack came from inside the apartment and Parker's eyes opened instantly. She stood up and hid herself from the window as stealth as she can be, as if she was on a con and Hardison was her moved a little so that she could see him and found out that he was dancing. She couldn't help but laughed lightly, which could be ok if Hardison hadn't been dancing so near the balcony. And before she knew it, Hardison was taken aback by her appearance and yelped.

"Damn, girl! You almost gave me an heart attack!"

"Didn't mean to." She really didn't. But still, she felt just the same as Hardison when he saw her there. She was caught completely unawared. She didn't mean to get caught. She never got caught. And now Hardison saw her, she would have to come up with a reason why she was here in the middle of the night. She hated to make up answers when she knew the real one. She wasn't very good at lying, especially to Hardison.

She climbed into the apartment as soon as Hardison opened the windows to the house fully. And she found it...really...Hardison. She smiled as she took in the whole environment. She liked this place instantly.

Hardison's voice came through her ears again, this time, with more calmness as he seemed to perceive the fact that she was in his apartment.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

She stopped and she could feel her heart beating faster already. But she acted as normal as she could and said the answer that logically would come out of her mouth when being asked this kind of questions.

"Bored." She shrugged, and then continued to walk and found the kitchen. She could feel Hardison following her, and the edge of her lips curled upward just a little bit.

"And?"

She ignored him as usual. She still hadn't manage to think of a suitable reason and wasn't ready to give up the real answer. That would mean that she had to really tell him about what she had figured out earlier. And she didn't want to do that. So she started to wander into the kitchen and desperately trying to find something that could change the subject. Thankfully, she saw the cereal box that was on the kitchen counter and ran towards it without a second thought.

"My favorite!"

Hardison came up to her side as she opened the box and handed her a bowl and a spoon. She filled the bowl with cereal. Cause now that she'd seen him, she didn't want to leave. She should just stay for the night.

"Um...yeah, I was going to bring it to you tomorrow cause I saw it on sale on my way back home and..."

She turned and took a mouthful of cereal into her mouth when she realized what Hardison was doing. The edge of her mouth shifted up just a little. He had bought this box especially for her, without even knowing if she'll ever visit his place.

"So you want to tell me why you're doing here?" He asked again, apparently trying to avoid the awkwardness he had made (and which Parker chose to ignore intentionally).

"I was bored." Her voice sounded higher, but thankfully Hardison barely noticed.

"Girl, after the day we had, you should be exhausted." He said with a incredulous expression.

"You should be too." She questioned back. Typically Parker-like.

A moment of silence hanged in the air as Hardison tried to figure out the right response. Parker studied his face as his expression changed, from painful to relieve and then to worry. Was he playing what happened today in his head all over again? Parker frowned, but too slight that Hardison rarely noticed. He was deep in his own thoughts.

She didn't mean to cause him somehow, she seemed to have the ability to hurt people in a way without knowing it.

Before she could think of a way to apologize, he spoke,

"I kind of want to celebrate 'not dying at the age of 24'." His tone sounded a bit overplayed, but instead of rolling her eyes as usual, she laughed gently. Because she completely agreed that not dying at an age of 24 was totally worth celebrating.

"Congratulations, then." She knocked the bowl slightly against his bottle of soda, as if they were beer bottles.

Parker's brow slightly frowned. This wasn't her. Normally she'll just roll her eyes at the comment. But she said something nice, like, real nice this time. And she didn't try to hide it. She was afraid that Hardison might notice.

So she looked up and met Hardison's eyes,but found that he seemed to be deep in even if he did, he seemed to hide his feelings rather well, which was NOT normal for Hardison.

Was he still in shock?Or was it some kind of post-trauma symptom?

"Hardison?" She couldn't hide her concern in her voice and asked.

Her voice seemed to snapped Hardison back to reality. He looked at the girl in front of her, a bit bewildered.

"Yeah?"

"Are you ok?" She sounded as if he would disappear any minute again.

"Yeah, I'm fine, girl. Never been better." And then he gave her that smile which was always able to comfort her when she was at her most desperate times. And then as if a thought suddenly hit him, his eyes went wide open. "You're here to check up on me?"

Parker looked down, avoiding his eyes, afraid that her face would betray her. Her hands started to fidget with unease.

She needed to come up with something real quick. She couldn't let him know, not after she'd showed so many of her emotions today. That would be way outside of her comfort zone.

"Well, just to make sure you're asleep...Who'd thought you would still want to have a relaxing night with your soda..."

"Wait, wait...how long have you been here,exactly?" He seemed to be more nervous than she was, though Parker couldn't figure out why.

"Hmm? Well, I was here way before you came home." She replied as if it was no big deal. She was glad that Hardison changed the subject. But this topic seemed to make him even more nervous than the previous one.

"So...emm..."

Parker realized why, then tried to comfort him, in a …...well, Parker way.

"Don't worry, I didn't see a thing when you started to take off your clothes. But I must admit, you're pretty well-built."

"Well, as you can see, I'm fine." He leaned back a bit, as if he were afraid to invade her personal space. But she leaned forward. She liked his presence next to her. His warm, living body. His shoulders brushing slightly against hers. She could still feel his breath on her cheek from the kiss earlier, and she would very much like to feel that again.

"Glad to hear that." She smiled, reminiscing all the times they'd kissed in cons, and the real kiss that just happened.

"So...ugh...you want to go home now?Maybe take some time to rest?" Hardison asked, unsure what to do Parker didn't want to just got her Hardison back and she was sure she won't be able to sleep even if she go back now. She wanted to stay here, with him, she shook her head.

"I couldn't sleep. I don't know why. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline rush earlier this day. So I was thinking about stealing something. And then I got out of my home, and headed for the nearest museum. But somehow, I ended up here." She shrugged and ate another mouthful of her cereal.

"I'm glad you ended up here." Hardison said sincerely, and covered his hand on hers. She was both surprised and glad when he did that, and when he noticed she didn't pull away, he squeezed just a little just to let her know how happy and grateful he was.

They stared at each other for a while, and when the silence lasted a bit too long for comfort, she stood up and walked towards the living room.

"So what were you planning to do before you notice I was there?"

"Star Trek marathon."

"Of course you were." She rolled her eyes. Geeks and their movies.

"Hey,woman. Don't you dare insult the soothing ability that Star Trek has on a geek." Hardison pointed his finger at Parker as he followed her to the living room. She raised both her hands and silently surrendered as she looked back at him.

"Well, since I wasn't able to sleep anyway, you think I can stay here for the night?" She sat down at the sofa so naturally as if it were at her own sat down at the spot where she usually sat when they were at Nate's, in the middle of the couch, where Elliot and Hardison would sit next to him. Where Hardison would be next to him.

"Um...yeah sure, girl. Whatever you want."

And as if remembering something, Parker turned around and looked at Hardison as he came near her,

"Oh, and Hardison?"

"Yeah,mama?"

"I want pretzels." Parker couldn't help but smiled widely as she mentioned the she could tell Hardison got it, which he always do.

Hardison smiled back.

"You got it, girl."

_**The End.**_


End file.
